Importance Of Doing Dawah

“Invite (all) to the Way of your Rabb with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for your Rabb knows best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance.” (16:125)

So the best and most successful way to invite others towards Islam is the way of wisdom and decency. It is every muslim's duty to spread the word of islam to others in every possible way. Unfortunately, dawah is left to the scholars of islam. But this is not true. Each one of us needs to understand that being a muslim means part of a huge revolution. Just being largest religion in the world is not the success of islam. Islam's success is hidden in its followers. The better the followers are, the more true the message will be. When we open Quran, we find that the invitation of islam is not just for prophets or for the pious scholars. In fact, the propagation of deen is in the hands of all of us.

The method of dawah is not tricky or complex. It does not involve any bribery and mind manipulation. In islam, dawah means to simply convey the massage of islam. No one is forced to accept islam but the choice is left to the listener as it is mentioned in Quran that there is no compulsion in deen.

The invitation of islam is a gradual process, it is not a one time job. How it should be done is mentioned in the following hadith;

Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 93, Number 469:

Narrated Ibn Abbas:

When the Prophet sent Muadh to Yemen, he said to him, "You are going to a nation from the people of the Scripture, so let the first thing to which you will invite them, be the Tauhid of Allah. If they learn that, tell them that Allah has enjoined on them, five prayers to be offered in one day and one night. And if they pray, tell them that Allah has enjoined on them Zakat of their properties and it is to be taken from the rich among them and given to the poor. And if they agree to that, then take from them Zakat but avoid the best property of the people."

This hadith indicates that everything should not be bombarded on others but dawah process needs to be step wise and gradual. Our beloved prophet Muhammad pbuh was the greatest example for all of us to follow. And the way he pbuh did the dawah was impressive to the extent that even non muslims and his bitterest enemies admired him for that. He pbuh never imposed islam on any one. His (pbuh) attitude and his qualities of character were enough to attract others towards islam. We all should be the same. Most of the times, all it takes is a simple action that makes one muslim.

Also, dawah should not be limited to non muslims only. There are many deviant sects exist among muslims now a days. They are also to be invited towards the real islam. But one thing should be kept in mind, a single harsh word can do the irrevocable mistake sometimes. It is also mentioned in the verse quoted at the start of the article. Allah swt says in Quran;

[041:033] Nobody’s assertions could be better (and more trustworthy) than the words of a person who invites others towards (the worship of) Allah, acts righteously and says, “Indeed, I am among those who surrender and submit (to Allah).”